User blog:Pinedance Coneslinger/Guidelines...Not Rules...Never Rules....

Whoopdeedo, past one in the morning, no one's on...What better thing to do then create a blog thingy? Well, actually, this came about from a discussion that LC and I just had. So, yay!

And, yes. I am being a conceited, self-promoting blaggart by doing this. Yay me!

Ahem! You are probably wondering what the heck I'm going on about, so, to the point! This blog is for writing tips. You can come here if you feel you want ways to get ideas or whatever. But keep in mind that this is just stuff that I do and that I am, by no means, a pro. So, read on at your own risk!

And there will be some semblance of order...And this will be added to continually...Because it's late and I need sleep...

Characters
Oooh, boy! The big issue here. You can have a weak plot, bad descriptions, and a horrifyingly short story, but if it has interesting, believable characters, people will probably like it. I can name one series which is extremely predictable, but I read it because I loved the characters. If the characters are terrible, then even if the plot is brilliant, the descriptions breathtaking, and whatever, people aren't really going to be interested...In fact, the characters may become "slaves to the plot". That is, they only do what they have to to get the story done.

Now that we understand that, let's examine what makes a good character. Hmm, a good guinea pig to use...Ah! Let's just create one as we go! Fun, no?

So. Allow me to introduce Arron. But WAIT, you say, who is Arron? Even I don't know that yet!

Let's think up a fact that we can use for his character...Let's say Arron has bright LIME green eyes. Now, we need to start asking the questions. Was he born with lime colored eyes? Did his eyes get dyed? Does he wear colored contact lenses? Is it merely a deception?

Let's go with the contact lenses thing. That makes Arron a modern day character, because they didn't have contacts until a short while ago. Now, WHY does he wear lime green contacts? Does he not like the color of his eyes? Is he forced to? Does he wear them to please someone? Or just to stand out?

He wears them to stand out. What would make him want to stand out? Is he desperate for attention? Does he just want to be different from everybody else? Is he some kind of secret agent who wears them to alert other agents that it's him? Or as a sign of pain?

Arron just wants to be different from everybody else. So, he's trying to break free of stereotypes. Is he independent because of this? Defiant? Or what?

He's being defiant. Now, what would make him want to be defiant? Do his parents pressure him too hard? Is the society he's in really that horrible? Did somebody he doesn't like express hatred for the color lime green?

His parents pressure him too hard. Notice how that pushes his age down to middle/high school/college because he wouldn't necessarily have to worry about that if he had graduated. Why do they do that? Does he not get good grades in school? Did they make some promise to a dead relative or whatever that he would be a famous person? Is he lazy? Does he have older siblings who outshine him? Or has he been amazing all of his life and his parents' expectations have risen extremely high?

His parents' expectations have risen too high. Now, what happened there? Is it just the parents being parents, or has he started to slack off a bit?

He's started to slack off. Why? Is he tired of being a straight A student and decided to try a new outlook on life? Did something bad happen to him? Is the workload simply too much?

Something bad happened to him. What? What happened that would make him start getting lower grades when he's been perfect for the rest of his school years? Did a friend of his die? A family member? Did he find out he caught some horrible disease and only has six months to live? Did he witness something traumatic? Did he try to help someone and fail?

He found out he has a horrible disease and only has six months left to live. So, he's starting to be a bit reckless? Or has he lost feeling and doesn't really care what happens in those last six months? Is he yearning to do something he's always wanted to do, but can't while in school? Want to go somewhere? See someone?

He's starting to be a bit reckless. Why? Does he figure that if he's going to die, he might as well go out with a bang? Is he itching for the excitement he's always seen in movies? Want to do something that will make him be remembered?

He figures if he's going to die, he might as well go out with a bang.

We could go on and on and on like this, but lookee! We now have a character!

From the answers, we can thus conclude that Arron is a smart, modern day, high school student, who's normally diligent and obedient, but when something bad happens, he tends to get reckless and let things slip. He does not like being just a part of the crowd either, but isn't hungry for attention, so he's probably quiet. There ya go! After you get stuff like that down, then you can start worrying about what the character looks like.

And now...-shudders- Let's see what makes a bad character.

1. No personality, or just a vary two-sided one. Think happy/angry and that's it.

2. Stereotyped. The usual "popular" girl, or the "jock", or the "emo" with the tragic pasy.

3. Perfect. UGH! This is horrible. Basically, they're good at everything, everybody likes them, they are always right, etc. M-m-m...Mary sues...

4. On contrast, they're horrible at everything, everybody hates them, they're always wrong, etc. Also, MSs.

5. They're just the author in fictional format, but enhanced. (This is not ALWAYS bad, but 99% of the time, it is.)

Basically, always ask yourself TONS of questions and make sure you can answer them with multiple choices. Because be assured, that if you don't, someone else will, and they might not be so nice about it either.

Tune in next week for more advice! (That sounds so cheesy....)